How to Draw People to Church

                     
                         We can treat everyone like royalty!

It seems that it is harder and harder to draw new people to church. As I study the reasons why one thing continually jumps out to me. People are afraid of being attacked for being bad, wrong, or sinful. Of course all of us are imperfect but the church seems to have a reputation for showing disrespect for imperfect people.

This short video speaks to the importance of showing RESPECT to everyone. And, we don't have to say it as nicely as The Queen of Soul!

Let My People Go and Grow

I woke up this morning thinking about the wonderful people we had at College Hill Pres. The staff there was a great team that worked hard and attempted to listen to God as best we could. However, it was the congregation that really made us into a fantastic place.

As I read Twitter, Facebook, and blogs I am struck by the emphasis on elite Preachers, Pastors, and Leaders. I think we need great theologians and preachers. But the emphasis in scripture and in my experience as an Organizational Consultant is really on the ordinary, non titled people in the pew.

Some of the very best Bible teachers I know were Laity. They were great at Practical Theology and application. They knew how to walk the talk. Members of our church rans P&G and GE and many other organizations. If they can run a billion dollar organization they can do ministry.

We had a large church with several terrific Ministers but our congregation was filled with energized men and women that were encouraged to try new things. We had a policy of giving permission to anyone in the church that believed they had a Call from the Lord to start a ministry. The Call had to be consistent with our Mission and Vision and cost the church nothing. If a person had a sense of call they had 3 minutes on Sunday morning to tell the congregation what they were doing. 1. They wrote out their 3 minute announcement. 2. They gave their call to join. 3. If people responded, they had a ministry. If no one was interested, it did not go anywhere. The church did not control the ministry.

When Laity are liberated, then innovation will grow and the church will grow.

Let my people go and grow!

My Triple By Pass and Prayer

                                                        

                                                                  God still Heals

It has been six weeks since Dr. Griffin and his team of people at The Christ Hospital took care of the three arteries that were blocked. I am reminded of the scripture that says, "All good gifts are from God." As a Social Scientist I have taken that truth very seriously by constantly examining scripture, research on how the brain and body work and mixed in prayer to keep God engaged in the process.

My recovery has gone well. The most important person is Karen who is the Chief Nurse, gatekeeper, schedule keeper, medicine regulator and emotional supporter.

For the past two weeks I have been attending Cardiac Rehab at Christ Hospital in Liberty Twp. Before that Karen and I had the distinct pleasure of getting home health care from some wonderful Nurses.

The Medical Staff at Christ and at home were extremely pleased with my progress since it was faster than most. Especially those who like me are 80 years old. One Doctor said, "You do not look 80, or act 80 but every organ in your body IS 80! So, take care of yourself and allow the healing to be complete."

I was able to share with several of my Medical Team at Christ that my improvement was due in large part to their great treatment as well as having so many people praying for me. Thank God for great friends that pray.

I am slowly reentering my office to write and plan so this note is one result. I tire VERY easily so I am certainly taking naps and slowing down even though I feel OK I am 80.

I am so thankful for Ron Peake, Andrea Bowsher, Jim Donovan, and Randy Creamer for taking the reins of our ministry and keeping it going so I can rest and recover.

I have some way to go before I can be fully operational so thanks for your prayers for me and the ministry.

Blessings and Peace!

Gary Sweeten

Update on My Heart Treatment

Thanks so much for the encouragement and prayers. 

After the angiogram last Friday, Dr. Kereiakes came into my room to explain the results. He said although my heart was beating strongly and looked healthy there were three arteries that were seriously occluded. They were to long to fix with stents so he recommended bypass surgery. 

Dr. Kereiakes had his colleague, Dr. Griffin come in and explain the procedure of taking vessels from other places and putting them to bypass the occluded ones. 

Today his office called to give me the schedule:
1. Tuesday at Christ Hospital for pretesting and instructions.
2. Thursday arrive at The Christ Hospital at 8:00 AM for preparation.
3. Surgery scheduled for 12:00 Noon Thursday.
4. Surgery will likely last about 4 hours.
5. Recovery in the hospital for 6 days with exercise and instructions. 
6. Return home on about May 23 for recovery for two months. 
7. Dance in the Spirit to thank God for His love, power, and provision of surgeons, nurses and medical personnel as well as great technology. 

Post Script: I am rereading the old book Healing and Christianity by Morton Kelsey. He traces the healing of body, mind, and spirit by prayers and physicians. He notes that some of the greatest names in Christian history promoted healing by multiple means. Prayers, Fasting, Anointing, Medicine, Dreams, ETC. One of the very first free hospitals in the world was set up by St. Gregory in Caesarea in the 4th Century, AD. 

I want to receive everything God has for me so pray all you can whenever you can. There are no bad side effects or fear of an overdose!

You can choose to follow me to get updates. 

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John Donne 1623

This is always first. Everything must bring praise to God!

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A Hymn to God the Father

Will You forgive that sin where I begun,

Which is my sin, though it were done before?

Will You forgive that sin through which I run,

And do run still, though still I do deplore?

When You are done, You are not done,

For I have more.

Will You forgive that sin which I have won

Others to sin? and made my sin their door?

Will You forgive that sin which I did shun

A year or two, but wallowed in a score?

When You are done, You are not done,

For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun

My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

Swear by Yourself, that at my death Your Son

Shall shine as he shines now and heretofore;

And, having done that, You have done,

I fear no more.

Psalm 103:12 "as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." 

Micah 7:19 "He will again have compassion upon us, he will tread our iniquities under foot. Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

Give thanks and honor our God.

Great Churches Thomas Road

Do you wonder what he most influential in church history in the past 100 years were, and 

what trends did they set and how they expressed their influence?  Can those past churches’ successes help us today?  

Read, The Ten Most Influential Churches in the Past Century, published by Destiny Image Publishers by Elmer Towns.  Order this book from Amazon.com

Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia

I first visited Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1968 doing research on the book, The Ten Largest Sunday Schools and What Made Them Grow.  That book eventually became a bestseller and remained on the list for over 14 months.  During my first Sunday visit, I taught the Pastor’s Bible Class in the main auditorium to around 2,000 people.

What captivated me most was the sermon preached by Jerry Falwell, the church’s founder and pastor. His sermon was taken from Acts 5:28, “Behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine.” Jerry explained every church should fill its “Jerusalem” where it is located.  Falwell explained Saturation Evangelism, “Using every available means, to reach every available person, at every available time.”  He wanted to preach to every person in America over television and his aim was to air the Old Time Gospel Hour in every major television market in America.  He also created a mailing campaign to get the gospel out to everyone.  I walked into the first auditorium to see four large computers, larger than a walk-in refrigerator.  The data for 100,000 mailing addresses were kept on those computers. Today, that amount of data can be stored in a smart phone.  Jerry Falwell was committed to raising the money, paying the price, sacrificing his time and effort to carry the gospel to the entire world. 

Out of Thomas Road Baptist Church has grown Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the world (and perhaps in history).  When I retired as dean of seminary and School of Religion there were over 113,000 students enrolled online and in the resident program.  There have been graduation class of approximately 20,000 people, with over 4,000 young people going into ministry.  Many report that there are more Liberty graduates from Liberty in fulltime ministry than any other Christian university and seminary in the world. 

That morning when I first visited the church, Dr. Falwell announced to the audience that I was preparing a book on the ministry of Thomas Road Baptist Church.  He said, “If you have been saved at this church, grab a visitor cards and write your testimony on the back of it, or use two or more cards. Put it in the offering plate and we will give it to Dr. Towns to help his research.”

Jerry handed me an old cigar box packed with over 100 testimonies of those who had been saved in the church.  I went back to Harvey’s Motel, sat on the floor with the concept of Saturation Evangelism in my mind.  I began placing different testimonies in piles with others who were saved using the same evangelistic method.  People were saved through the jail ministry, television ministry, radio ministry, Sunday school bus ministry, evangelistic crusades, telephone outreach, tract distribution, etc.  As I read the testimonies I wept.  God had touched my heart through what He had done in many lives, alcoholic, broken families, abandoned, etc.  In my opinion, Thomas Road Baptist Church was doing more to get the gospel to their entire “Jerusalem” than any other church I had experienced.  I prayed that night that I might have a part with this church, not knowing that one day I would be the Co-Founder with Jerry Falwell of Liberty University.

WANT TO READ MORE?

What churches were the most influential in church history in the past 100 years?  What trends did they set?  How did they express their influence?  Can past churches’ successes help you today?  What can the ministry of past successful churches teach us today?  Read, The Ten Most Influential Churches in the Past Century, published by Destiny Image Publishers by Elmer Towns.  Order this book from Amazon.com


We train Christian leaders how to build a great church regardless of size. Tune in to my Sweeten Life Web page and buy my books to learn more about building great Christian relationships.  

      

Sexual License and Despair

The "Me Too " tag has unleashed a torrent of complaints from women accusing males of accosting them in ways large and small. Hardly a day passes that we do not read about some famous person who was previously lauded as being "Pro Woman/Pro Feminist" that has been outed as a sexual predator.

A recent article on the sexual revolution has a stinging assessment of the past and present damage done to America because of it.  Women, who were led blindly into the revolution expecting a wonder filled heaven of pleasure and freedom but have instead found the life of sexual license filled with predators and pain.

God always has the good or humans in mind when He tells us about the limits we need to set up on our behavior. God set limits of our sexual behavior and we have disagreed and we thought we knew best with tragic results just as God predicted when He said, "I have set before you death and life. Choose Life!"

The article lays out the tragic results of going astray for us as a nation and the citizens that must pay for the errors. As always, Christians who follow the ways of the Lord will pick up the pieces because we continue the works of The Great Physician.

I recently spoke with a man in his fifties that greeted the sexual revolution and volunteered to lead the charge in his region. He and his wife had been fighting for decades and he could not figure out why. I asked if they had had sex before marriage and he said, "Are you kidding? Everybody had sex back then. I do not know of a single man that did not."

I asked, "Have you asked your wife for forgiveness?"

He "Forgiveness? Why?"

Me, "Were you a confessing Christian?"
\
He "Yes".

Me "Was it wrong to do it?"

He "Well...Yes".

Me "Then go home and ask her forgiveness."

He "Well, I know a lot of guys that need to confess."

Me "So, now you can tell them how you did it."

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